Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2020 från Whisky Advocate

Abraham Bowman 13 year old Twice Finished American 50% • $70 new charred oak barrel 8 years, 3 months Potomac Point Winery port barrel 4 years, 7 months sauternes barrel 2 months Hillrock Estate American Single Malt (Barrel OPX-30) 48.2% • $105 new charred oak barrel Hillrock bourbon barrel oloroso sherry cask Pedro Ximénez sherry cask Kamiki Sakura Japanese blended malt 48% • $95 oak barrel Yoshino Sugi Japanese cedar cask Japanese cherry-wood Sakura cask Tyrconnell 16 year old Oloroso & Moscatel Cask-Finished single malt Irish 46% • $100 bourbon barrel 16 years barrel seasoned with oloroso sherry, then moscatel wine…

For more than 30 years, single malt has been the most sought-after style of whisky at auction. The single malt designation offers assurance about the source of the liquid inside the bottle: It was made at the distillery named on the label. This is not to be taken for granted as, incredulously, representatives of some of the world’s best-selling single malt scotches, like Glenfiddich and Glenlivet, find they need to convince people that those names aren’t just household brands produced at large-scale distilleries in different parts of the world and that they actually are distilled at the individual distilleries in Speyside. When it comes to record-breaking whisky auction prices, it’s single malts that write all the headlines: Scotch whisky from Macallan and Bowmore, and Japanese whisky from Karuizawa, Hanyu, and…

Stop all the stills Cut off the water supply Prevent the copper dog from dunking with a juicy bung Silence the kiln, peat shovels succumb Bring out the boffins, let the visitors come (With apologies to W. H. Auden) It’s silent season in Scotland, now more than ever. Manway covers on cold copper pot stills hang open, chattering birdsong floats in through the stillroom’s open windows, and the clanging tools of whistling workmen echo in the distance. Summer’s warmth has raised the temperature and reduced the flow of the distillery’s water source, the season’s annual challenge to the production of consistent high-quality spirit. In years gone by, the visitor center crew would gird their loins at the sound of airbrakes as buses offloaded the next distillery tour groups. The guests…

Perfect for leisurely sipping on a balmy summer night, the Highball is enjoying a revival in the U.S. But in Japan, Highballs are a way of life, says Masahiro Urushido, managing partner and bartender at Japanese-style cocktail bar Katana Kitten in New York City. “The Highball has been popular for over 100 years,” Urushido says. “I think the reason is because it’s so versatile.” An ideal whisky drink, the Highball allows the spirit to step into roles usually occupied by beer, or even wine. “It pairs pretty much with anything you’re eating, almost like champagne,” Urushido adds. Highballs also temper the potent proof of whisky. “It’s not a strong drink,” says Peter Mizutani, senior bar captain at Conrad Tokyo hotel’s bar TwentyEight. “Japanese people drink Highballs to enjoy the atmosphere.…

The Manhattan cocktail—a simple recipe of American whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters that predates the Martini—yields myriad combinations to suit almost any whiskey lover. “I’m very choosy, first, about which rye—yes, rye—works best. Bourbon is too soft for me in this drink,” says Charles Cerankosky, co-owner of Good Luck, Cure, and Jackrabbit Club in Rochester, New York. However, many enjoy bourbon just fine, especially when matched with the right vermouth to balance its sweetness with bitterness and acidity. In fact, almost any style of whiskey you enjoy can shine in a Manhattan. The modern Manhattan ratio is 2:1 whiskey to vermouth, but the original skewed the opposite, with twice as much vermouth as whiskey. Try this lower-proof rendition well-suited to summer—or find your sweet spot somewhere in between. When these…

1 Aberargie Perthshire Established 2017 No website 2 Annandale Annan Established 2014 annandaledistillery.com 3 Arbikie Inverkeilor Established 2013 arbikie.com 4 Ardnahoe Islay Established 2018 ardnahoedistillery.com 5 Ardnamurchan Acharacle Established 2014 adelphidistillery.com 6 Ballindalloch Ballindalloch Established 2013 ballindallochdistillery.com 7 The Borders Hawick Established 2018 thebordersdistillery.com 8 BrewDog (formerly Lone Wolf) Ellon Established 2016 brewdog.com 9 The Clydeside Glasgow Established 2017 theclydeside.com 10 Dalmunach Carron Established 2015 No website 11 Deeside (formerly Twin River) Banchory Established 2017 deesidedistillery.net 12 Eden Mill St Andrews Established 2012 edenmill.com 13 Glasgow Glasgow Established 2014 glasgowdistillery.com 14 Glen Wyvis Dingwall Established 2015 glenwyvis.com 15 Holyrood Edinburgh Established 2019 holyrooddistillery.co.uk 16 Inchdairnie Glenrothes Established 2014 inchdairniedistillery.com 17 Isle of Harris Harris Established 2015 harrisdistillery.com 18 Isle of Raasay Raasay Established 2016 raasaydistillery.com 19 Kingsbarns St Andrews Established…

The Buying Guide provides ratings of whiskies from around the world with an emphasis on new releases available for purchase in the U.S. Complete tasting notes are provided for all whiskies scoring 84 points or more (on the Whisky Advocate 100-point scale). Lower scoring whiskies are included at the discretion of the editors, and some may appear exclusively on whiskyadvocate.com. RATINGS AND PRICES Ratings are to provide a relative comparison of quality with reference to both directly competing products and whiskies in general. Price is not a consideration when arriving at ratings. Prices shown reflect the suggested retail price. When none is available, we establish a representative retail price. Actual retail prices may vary. Whiskies sold in the U.S. have prices marked in dollars; any whisky priced in other currency…

Coconut aromas might be more readily found in sunscreen and shampoo, but some whiskies offer an array of coconut scents and flavors, a particular pleasure in hot weather. These characteristics may call to mind cracking the fibrous shell to reveal snowy white flesh, devouring a macaroon, inhaling the moreish aromas of toasted flakes, scooping up spoonfuls of coconut cream pie, or biting into a Mounds or Almond Joy: associations that make us feel good. For coconut flavors in whisky, however, the journey to your glass starts in the forest with the decision of which tree to chop down to build casks. Coconut notes are associated with oak lactones, colloquially known as whisky lactones. These volatile oak lactones are not a single compound, but the important ones to know are the…

Whisky trading at auction was essentially halted in March during the global shutdown as country after country went into quarantine to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Initial efforts by online auction houses to continue trading were shelved as offices closed to prevent face-to-face contact between auction house staff and whisky collectors, while concerns circulated about the persistence of the virus on packaging materials such as cardboard, plastic, and metal. The pandemic’s effect on whisky prices is unpredictable. The impact may bring more substantial collections to auction—demand rose for alcohol for consumption at home during the early weeks of self-isolation—while other collectors may have decided to open their best bottles to see them through the crisis. It’s worth remembering that the secondary whisky market grew stronger during the 2008 economic slowdown…

Back when I was in my twenties, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival wasn’t quite the colossus it is today, my friends and I were regulars at the springtime music fest. We’d pick one weekend or the other—then, as now, the festival ran over two weekends with a weekday break in between—and build a trip around it, enjoying the outdoor music during the day and reveling even more in the ubiquitous concerts that took place at night in such legendary venues as Tipitina’s, Maple Leaf, Mid-City Lanes, and the long-since defunct Muddy Waters. One night, we ventured on foot from a show at Tipitina’s to a place none of us had been to before, an uptown venue called Benny’s. We arrived to find a street corner joint with…

Bright and buoyant, the Whiskey Sour is whiskey dressed for a summer day. The drink may have originated with 18th-century sailors combining ingredients they had at hand, but the unbeatable balance of spirit, sugar, and citrus makes this drink transcend the whims of cocktail fashion. “It’s beautiful in its simplicity and it’s delicious and it manages to be really fun, and it’s also a really nice access point for whiskey for a lot of people,” says Dan Sabo, director of food and beverage at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. As long as you stay focused on a balance of sweet, sour, and spirit, the Whiskey Sour leaves plenty of room for interpretation or tweaking to suit your palate. “There are a thousand things you can do to add a…

While social distancing has helped slow the spread of COVID-19, it has put a stop to many activities, including whisky club meetings. Nevertheless, clubs continue gathering around whisky from afar. “We did a virtual tour of the Balcones Distillery [on March 17], with members logging in from our chapters all over the world—from Mexico City to all across the U.S. to Beirut—where they helped us do two barrel picks,” Drammers Club president Charlie Prince says. The barrel pick had been scheduled weeks before, with plans for Drammers members to attend in person. When the need for social distancing arose, Prince decided to carry on with it solo, assisted by Balcones stillhouse manager Gabriel RiCharde and Texas state sales manager Alex Elrod, and opening it up to the club via Facebook…

Japanese whisky makers have grappled with dwindling stocks in recent years as thirst grows for their prized liquid. Yet that hasn’t stopped major distilleries and smaller producers alike from releasing exciting new whiskies to celebrate a momentous year for Japan—in spite of the Tokyo Summer Olympics being pushed to 2021 because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Suntory A JAPANESE WHISKY TITAN Suntory is releasing a 55 year old Yamazaki single malt—the oldest liquid ever from the vaunted Osaka distillery, according to Beam Suntory. Significantly, the youngest liquid in this whisky was distilled in 1964, the same year as the previous Tokyo Summer Olympics. The packaging aims to showcase Japan’s meticulous craftsmanship, with “Yamazaki” engraved in calligraphy on the bottle, and gold dust and lacquer embellishing the age statement. The bottle…

The craft spirits movement—which has exploded the number of distilleries in the U.S.—has not made much of a dent in terms of sales. Its market share is barely measurable, but it contributes in other important ways. Old Line Golden Edition American single malt whiskey is a product of Baltimore’s Old Line Spirits, which started distilling in 2016. It is 8 years old. If that math doesn’t work for you, therein hangs the tale. Golden Edition, a limited release, was not made at Old Line’s distillery in the Highlandtown neighborhood east of downtown Baltimore. It was distilled 3,000 miles away on Samish Island, north of Seattle, in a 60-gallon pot still at Golden Distillery. Founded early in the craft spirits movement, Golden Distillery was a labor of love for two buddies…

For centuries, the Old Fashioned has remained a staple at bars around the world. “It is literally the definitive cocktail,” says Sam Treadway, owner of Backbar in Somerville, Massachusetts. “Once upon a time, the word ‘cocktail’ meant specifically this one drink.” As trendy, newer cocktails were invented, it became known as the “Old Fashioned cocktail.” Will Benedetto, opening beverage director and bar consultant at The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club in Nashville, says the Old Fashioned is highly versatile with whiskey—and beyond. “Any spirit—any worth drinking—can be made into an enlightening Old Fashioned,” he says. It’s doubtful that the elaborate craft cocktails of today will be remembered in a century. But owing to its short list of common ingredients and simplicity, the Old Fashioned endures. How to Make an Old…

The American Single Malt Whiskey Commission was founded by nine distilleries in 2016 and has since grown to include some 160 craft distillers from around the country who seek to establish a standard of identity for American single malt. “What’s most important is that the industry at large—the trade, the retailers, the bars and restaurants of the world, and ultimately consumers—starts to recognize this category,” commission president Steve Hawley says. “We want consumers to have confidence that what they’re picking up off the shelf, what they think is in that bottle, is actually in that bottle.” The commission’s proposed definition stipulates that American single malt be: • made from 100% malted barley• distilled entirely at one distillery• mashed, distilled, and matured in the U.S.• matured in oak casks with a…

Best Values Whiskies with solid scores, modest prices, and wide availability. BOURBON 91 Early Times Bottled in Bond Kentucky Straight, 50%, $25/liter Delightfully rich on the nose, with grape jelly, raspberries, Raisinets, buttered pecans, toffee, dark chocolate, baking spice, leather, and the old oak smell of a rickhouse. Chewy and viscous, the palate shows excellent consistency, balancing raisins, Concord grape jelly, baking spice, and dark chocolate with coffee bean, cola, and lush oak. A lengthy and elegant finish highlights mocha, grape skins, cinnamon, black pepper, and rich oak.—SSB INDIA 89 Paul John Nirvana, 40%, $30 What I love about this is that it’s fresh and fruity with plenty of zip. The nose has hard candy, fresh laundry, floral notes, apple, and peach puree. A fruit medley with nectarine, pear, and…

Though the use of virgin oak is not uncommon in scotch, Midleton is the first modern distillery to produce a virgin Irish oak-finished single pot still whiskey. Foresters carefully select a small number of oaks to be felled from woods on well-managed Irish estates. The oak travels to a cooperage in Spain to be quarter-sawn and seasoned for 15 months before the barrels are raised and returned to Midleton Distillery in Co. Cork. The third release of this highly collectible series comes from seven trees grown in Knockrath Forest in Co. Wicklow, which yielded 42 barrels. These were filled with single pot still whiskeys matured in American oak, ranging from 15 to 28 years old, and finished in the virgin Irish oak casks for up to 2 years. 94 Midleton…

Mr. Whiskey, America’s undisputed expert in all things bibulous, is back with the answers to a curious nation’s burning questions about distilled spirits, cocktails, and your sometimes annoying behavior. Also, Mr. Whiskey knows what he’s talking about or he wouldn’t be called Mr. Whiskey, would he? (Mr. Whiskey uses the royal we because he’s a prince of a fellow.) My fiancé drinks single malt scotch with Sprite Zero. Is that OK? —Fran from Indianapolis Dump him as quickly as you can. In a country of 330 million people there are myriad choices for you among men who aren’t desperately trying to fit into skinny jeans. We recommend going to Bardstown, Kentucky, where male descendants of the Beams and other sainted distilling families are fairly thick on the ground. See if you…